Friday, December 30, 2011

Throughout the holidays it’s great to be with family, friends, and co-workers and to reminisce all the successes and blessings of the past year. The December holidays are a change for many of us to re-charge our batteries as we transition into the new year. I sure hope everyone reading today has had a chance to do just that.

But Sunday is the BIG day – the first day of a brand new year! As I said in the past,we turn all the dials back to zero. What ever happened in 2011 is now a thing of the past. The race begins anew – new possibilities, new choices, new opportunities for success!

A bright future is ours, all of ours for the taking IF, we approach those new challenges with fortitude, determination, optimism, and with gusto!

I offer you your first 2012 success tip from this African proverb:

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed...every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

This wonderful profession of ours continues to change and grow and we need to move quickly to embrace those changes if we want success to be within our grasp.

I wish each and every one of you only the best for 2012 and beyond.

DigitalProTalk will continue to be a source of knowledge and inspiration for you nearly every day. And, as always, I look forward to your thoughts/comments, questions, suggestions and ideas to be an inspiration to me, as well. I hope you’ll continue to join me for an exciting New Year!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

I’m a big fan of shooting “up” when touring any big city downtown location. This day was no exception. We had a bright, clear day sky which served as a brilliant backdrop for this cityscape. I carefully blocked the sun’s direct rays with the tree you see in the foreground. I also like the touch of nature among the concrete buildings.

The wide angle lens really accentuates the buildings’ climb to the sky. One thing that fascinates me with the image are the contrasting colors and shapes in the scene. I enhanced those colors with a tweak or two in Lightroom. For me, it’s just a fun visual of the urban landscape.

All the orders have been delivered. The clients are smiling. The checking account looks happy. The dust has settled around the studio and the game plan is on for a brand new year. So what about you – what are your plans for 2012?

My 5 Step Plan For better Sales & Profits For 2012

I've said it to every aspiring photographer at many of my seminars and workshops. The year is coming to an end. All the sales and profit dials all get reset to zero. And really, what are you going to do about it? Too many photographers and business owners will settle into the same old habits that lead many to the same mediocre results as in 2011. Today is the day to resolve to put a new plan into action. It's confession time and it's time to confess the highlights of this past year. And, it’s also time to own up to your misses for 2011.

Here is my 5 step plan for better sales for 2012:

1. Review everything about your studio profits or losses - the high points and those not so high - for 2011. What did you do really well, and where did you drop the ball?

2. List the best things that happened in your studio in 2011. Maybe it was a new email promotion you started or a new Facebook strategy you tried that worked great. Now resolve to make those promotions even better for 2012. Don't leave a thing out. Sit down yourself, with your staff, your spouse, fellow photographer buddies - anyone you can bounce ideas off of to make 2012 a better year.

3. Reflect on the near misses for 2011. What went wrong and why? Could a small change here or there made a bigger difference in the profit outcome? Maybe you just need to ditch the idea all together.

4. Introduce new products for 2012. If you had some big hits in 2011, make them bigger hits in 2012!

5. Write out your plan for 2012 - and then work the plan.

Hey gang, it all sounds so simple doesn't it? But why do so many struggling photographers never get around to carrying out any of the five steps above? Why do so many businesses continue to struggle because of their inaction? Why don't they choose to take the road less traveled by less-than-successful businesses but heavily traveled by successful ones?

Success comes with planning and hard work. Successful studios already know that and are well on their way to planning an even better marketing plan for 2012. I sure hope you will too! Plan to follow DigitalProTalk throughout 2012. I promise to bring you hot tips and techniques, business web-casts, and lots more to help your business grow. It will be a fun and profitable ride!

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. My daughter, Elizabeth is in town and we're hangin' for the next few days. Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you again tomorrow for a short weekend post.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

This image is from a year or two ago and has been featured a times in my Technique Tuesdays and other lighting/composition discussions. I made it while photographing one of my favorite brides. She wanted some really nice outdoor images and the park across the street from the wedding venue filled the bill nicely.

The larger aperture isolated her nicely from the background. The lines of the canopy structure lead the viewers eyes right to her face. Lighting is from the left - Quantum T5d shooting through my Zumbrella which gives the very soft quality of lighting on the bride's face. The summer colors give a really nice feel to the image as well.

Can you believe we are almost at the end of 2011? Time flies when you're having fun. We've got some personal items, Christmas with LaDawn’s family, on our plate today so let's get on with today's post.

The Most Important Tool In Your Gear Bag

How important are F-stops and shutter speeds in your life? In many of the comments I read on my DPT posts the question comes up all the time about why I used this shutter speed, that F-Stop, a certain ISO, etc….. and it got me thinking. Are those numbers all that important? Well, the quick answer is of course they are. But let me ask again, are they the most important aspect of photography. I would have to answer categorically - NO!

Of Course F-Stops and Shutter Speeds Are Important

Wait, don’t leave yet - hear me out. Obviously shutter speeds and F-stops are important to your photography. The proper use of both, including the appropriate ISO all can be used to finesse the image to it's final result. Shallow depth of field can be used to isolate the portrait subject from the background. Panning a race car at a slower shutter speed can really increase the feeling of motion in the finished image. High altitude ISOs allow us to capture images never before possible. And all this is good.

But, what is the best thing we can learn to do for our photography? Better said, what is the most important item we need to practice, learn, and still continue to practice if we want to be a great photographer? The answer - learning how to see. And that includes knowing how to effectively spot and capture the moment and compose the image for maximum impact for the viewer.

Too many photographers get "mostly" wrapped up in the "nuts and bolts" of this profession, let's call it the "craft" of this profession. And that is good - it's the "mostly" part of the previous sentence that will "kill" any chance of you becoming a great photographer. You may indeed be a good photographer but never a great photographer if you forever languish in the nuts and bolts tool shop of this profession.

The Journey To Greatness

A photographer can become great if he/she constantly strive to learn how to see and constantly raise their expectations as to what the final image should represent. Visualization is the key - knowing in your mind's eye what you want the camera to capture. And, unfortunately this important element does not come easy or fast to many photographers. For most of us, our journey to "greatness" is a process that we need to exercise often, if not everyday.

I’m surely not claiming any greatness on my behalf. I still look over my images and know I could do better. But one thing I continue to do - is practice, practice, practice! I love the piece of advice I received from one of the outstanding photographers of our time, Jay Maisel, when I asked him why he always had his camera with him. Jay quickly answered, "You can't take a picture without a camera, and you never know when that great photograph will come along. I'm always ready for it."

It was an eye opening remark for me as a photographer who has been in business longer than I will admit in this post. I nearly always had a camera with me where ever I went. The difference today is that I ALWYS have a camera with me now - yes, ALWAYS!

And did I say practice was important too - of course. I defer to Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule he references in his book "Outliers". The bottom line of that chapter was that great/successful people spent 10,000 hours working on being great and/or successful. How many hours have you got invested? Are you close yet? And even when you invest those 10,000 hours, is that it? Is that the time to quit? No, it’s time to start your next 10,000 hours.

Not many photographers care about being great. But some us want to push the envelope. Some of us want to continue to learn and grow. To not do so would be anathema to ourselves and our profession. How great do you want to be? The choice is up to you. Maybe it’s time to set aside the nuts and bolts for a while and simply grab your cameras and practice, practice, practice!. 2012 is just around the corner so let’s all set new goals and shoot for the stars.

Hey gang, that's my soap box speech for today. We've got a family gathering this afternoon and Chef David needs to return to his kitchen duties and continue with all the preparations. So it’s off with my camera and on with my apron;~) Then dash away, dash away, dash away all!

I'll plan to see everyone tomorrow for another Business Day Thursday post.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

This image was made during one of my recent Kelby Training shooting sessions. BTW, the video should be coming out any time – I’ll keep you posted.

The lesson was on image composition and we have no better example of composition and leading lines than we do in this image. Look how the line of the railing easily leads your eyes directly to our beautiful model. You’ll also find the lines in the ceilings also pointing your eye to our subject.

Notice too that the vanishing point of this image is opposite our model. This is a great way to focus attention on the subject. The entire “space” seems to be coming out and surrounding her.

I was also careful to remove the one or two ceiling lights from around her head to minimize any distracting elements in that part of the photograph.

Lighting was simple – the main light was supplied by the large window out of the frame, camera left. I used a small accent light camera right, out of frame, and slightly behind the subject to create the separation I wanted of the subject from the background. It really did a good job defining her from the much darker background.

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL holiday weekend. Ours was quiet and energizing. I don't know about you guys and girls, but my Batteries were in deep discharge mode before the holidays. Over the weekend I hardly got near a computer other than the holiday wishes I posted and what I'm mentioning below.

Over the weekend I did discover a very good way to recharge my batteries. On Christmas morning, before tearing into each others presents, LaDawn suggested we look back over the year and revisit all the high points. We found it a bit challenging to do it with instant recall - I guess my brain pixels are slowing a bit ;~) So, I headed over to the computer and fired up Google calendar to refresh our memories and review the year.

And what a year it has been! We were traveling for nearly 20 weeks, like close to 5 months, traveling throughout the USA, Canada, and Mexico. No wonder it felt busy this year, and me the guy trying to slow things down a bit - whew! We had some great times, photographed some BEAUTIFUL weddings including LaDawn’s son Joshua and new daughter-in-law Kristen. But more importantly, we met some great photographers along the way and especially the photographers we got to know even better from our Sedona and Napa three-day Experience to our week-long Master Classes.

We smiled and giggled for more than an hour just enjoying the fond memories of these past 12 months. I think it's a good idea for everybody. Too many times we dwell on the difficulties in our lives and often forget about or dismiss the true high points of the year. Hey, we've got New Year's Day coming up in just a few - maybe you could take a peek back at 2011 this weekend…. just a thought.

Anyway, It's good to be back today. The schedule around here this week is not too crazy, my daughter is coming in to visit, and we have one more holiday party to prepare for tomorrow evening. It will be a nice few days.

That said, why don't we get on with today's post. First, I want to give you an update on the "I Do" free wedding web event kicking off tomorrow and then we'll get on with today's technique Tuesday. Here we go...

Wedding Photographers Unite!

The first of three FREE "I Do" wedding webcasts kicks off tomorrow at 10:00a.m. Each one features a different group of speakers.

The line-up for tomorrow looks great and includes some of my favorite young gun wedding photographers.

Remember, you can pick up a DVD of ALL 16 speakers, me included, for only $79, and get $250 worth of super cool goodies to boot. Whcc, ProSelect, Animoto, Shootsac, PWD Labs, & Successware have put together some exclusive goodies [link]. ONLY for those who buy the "I Do" recordings.

Buy before 11 am CST tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 28 to get $250 in goodies, and start making the changes for a blissful wedding business in 2012.

Today I want to walk you through a short discussion about the characteristics of light. It's not about one piece of lighting gear filling the bill for all you shooting needs. Hey, you don't just use one lens on a job, do you? Of course not. It's the same for your lighting gear too. You'll have to make choices about what lighting gear to use and when is the most appropriate times to use that lighting gear.

Let's first talk about the size of the lights themselves. Yes, Virginia, size matters when talking about light. You’ll get a different feeling from the portrait depending on the size of the light source used to illuminate the image.

Why not hit the PLAY button below and see how the size of your light source affects not just how the subject is illuminated but also how the size of the light impacts your portraits.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm the Master Chef for a party of about 20 guests tomorrow and my Henkel's, Cuisinart, and Kitchen Aid are waiting ;~) Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you tomorrow for another great post, "The Most Important Tool In Your Gear Bag".

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Last year we had a week long of beautiful snowfall leading up to Christmas. This week has been mostly non-stop rain. So instead of posting a rainy day Christmas picture from this year, I’m sharing with you the image I took last year about this time. It feels a lot more like Christmas too ;~) The challenge was to get down the drive, get the shot, and back quickly with out “freezing to death”.

May God continue to bless you and your loved ones this holiday season and throughout 2012.

I have to tell you, this is my favorite time of the year. I love the bright twinkling lights, the rich colors of the season, and the wonderful fragrance of pine in the air. I love giving special thoughts to close friends and family as I make the Christmas shopping rounds either on Amazon or at the malls. I like looking over the Christmas card list and reminiscing about the good times, over the years, I've shared with all the special friends and family on that list. I like reading every Holiday card that crosses our mailbox. And I love what this season stands for - new beginnings, fresh starts, a celebration of life and love.

Most of us reading this today will be spending time with family and friends enjoying this wonderful season. From kids to grandparents and beyond, families and friends will be enjoying everything this holiday season has to offer - friendship, laughter, good food, and love. I wish each and everyone of you the happiest of Christmas this year!

BUT,

As we wrap ourselves up in the joyous surrounds of all our holiday festivities there will be a lot more people waking to Christmas morning with it being just another day in their lives. I think that's kind of sad. More sad is the fact that so many receive so little notice from the rest of us on our holiday high.

A personal project this year brought me in intimate contact with several folks who would not be sharing Christmas at all with family and friends this year. I got to know a few of these people, I got to look into their eyes, I got to feel their despair, and my heart went out to them. The overwhelming thought I had was that these were still good people with lots of good in their hearts. Circumstances had placed them is a much different situation than most of us reading this Christmas post.

That's what got me thinking about today's Christmas message. Christmastime is mostly a time of religious celebration, gift-giving and a wonderful time of year to share with family and friends. Most of our thoughts and gift-giving is centered on those around us. Said differently, we easily set aside thoughts of the less fortunate around us many of which may only live 10-15 miles away from us. It's almost, unintentionally of course, that Christmastime insulates us from having to give any energy or thought to the poor and the poor in spirit around us.

Maybe this Christmas could be different. Maybe with just so much as a small donation, a kind thought, a moments' reflection, maybe even a prayer pointed in their direction at least gives these folks some kind of inclusion into our Christmas celebration too. At least it's a way to reach out in the smallest of ways to those who have so little or may be suffering difficult times. Sure, we could all do more, but even this small gesture is a step in the right direction to the real meaning of Christmas.

As I said earlier, I wish each and everyone one of you the most wondrous of holiday seasons. I also keep in mind our less fortunate travelers on spaceship earth and hope and pray that they too find peace, caring, compassion, and love at Christmas.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

This image was taken in the Mandalay Bay Resort as part of a training session I was doing for Photoshop World a few years ago. I'll tell you, put a pretty girl in a fabulous location and it's hard to go wrong. Notice she is in the bottom left quadrant of the scene. This positioning worked very well with the dramatic light fixtures you see in the ceiling.

I love the striking architecture of the background which I enhanced even more with a wide angle lens on my camera. Overall, this is a straight forward shot with lighting coming in from camera right with my off-camera strobe firing through my Zumbrella.

Slowing down the shutter to pick up the detail of the surrounds added to the warmth of the shot.

I have to tell you, a few unexpected personal commitments have me really “underwater” time-wise this week. I’ve been putting in 16-18 hour days just to keep up, hence the crazy posting schedule. I’m just swamped and it doesn’t let up till Monday.

Don’t worry, nothing bad is going on – we’re all fine, but my time is not my own for the next few days. That said let me leave you with one of my favorite posts from a while back. You be be crazy busy to, but if you get a chance to read it, I think you’ll enjoy it. Here we go.

Maybe it's Time To Chose Your Customers Instead of Them Choosing You

Sounds like strange advice doesn't it? But you know, in this day and age, it something we should all consider. So many people are looking for the cheapest deal available. Too many photographers are out there accommodating too many of those clients.

Where does all this lead? I remember clearly the words of advice I was offered when I attended my first meeting of our local Tri-State Professional Photographers Association back in 1979. I was definitely the new kid on the block and was looking for any kind of business advice I could get.

Some Of The Best Business Advice I Ever Received!

I walked into that meeting with my legs wobbling with nervousness as I walked in to meet all the "Big Gun" Cincinnati photographers. Fortunately for me, one of the first photographers I bumped into was Craig Elbe, a big boisterous, dare I say opinionated, character of a guy who gave me the best piece of advice for my budding business.

Craig sees me come into the meeting and as I pass him, he calls out to me saying, "Hey buddy, you're new here aren't you? What kind of photographer are you? Don't tell me you're another wedding photographer, we got too many of them in his town already."

Well, those remarks were NOT setting me at ease at all at my first professional photographers meeting. He then went on to give me the best advice I have ever received when it comes to business building - and, it is still as fresh in my mind now as it was when Craig said it to me.

He comes close to me and starts poking his finger into my chest saying, "Let me tell you this, kid. If you do a cheap wedding, they'll recommend their cheap friends. Shoot expensive weddings and they'll recommend their rich friends." You know I took that advice to heart and started to do just that.

My Second Best Piece Of Business Advice

In fact in my business lectures, my second business lesson to all the attendees is this. “Get to know the people doing business with the people YOU want to business with and work on creating authentic relationships with them.” Uhmmm... authentic business relationships - sounds like the subject of another blog post down the road. Anyway, I took Craig's advice years ago and it has served me well.

Craig Elbe has long since passed away, but when he was alive, I counted him as one of my friends in the Cincinnati photographic community. Consider Craig's advice as you grow your own business too.

More Good Advice

Along those same lines, I found this related article over at Seth Godin's site entitled, "Choose Your Customers, Choose Your Future." [link] He basically says the same thing. Here is a quick excerpt from his very brief post:

"Sell to angry cheapskates and your business will reflect that. On the other hand, when you find great customers, they will eagerly co-create with you. They will engage and invent and spread the word." Sounds to me like he's paraphrased Craig Elbe's words 30 years later.

Give it some thought - you business may just take a turn to a brand new, unexpected, brighter future.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today, I’ve got another 14 hour day today and need to get moving right away. Don’t let the holiday rush get you down. Give someone a hug if you think they can use it. Keep smiling and hum a Christmas tune or two – stay happy ;~)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

This is an image I captured on the beach while in Cabo, Mexico. Our beautiful model, Greta, a friend of our friends Kent and Sarah Smith, and who we were just with last week, did a great job as our beach beauty subject.

I choose to use my off-camera flash coming in from camera-right in order to create more contrast on my subject which I thought accentuated the contrasting tones of the surf behind her. That lighting direction also gave me the beautiful and flattering loop lighting pattern on my subject’s face.

Notice too how I have the slight S-Curve of the surf working through the image too. I tweaked "Vibrancy" ever so slightly in Lightroom which kicked the blue water tones up just a notch, added a slight "squarish" vignette, and enhanced the image in Photoshop ever so slightly.

It’s another busy day around here today. I’ve got to put together two still multi image videos for a client for delivery tomorrow. It’s our last big project around here we need to complete before the holidays.

My favorite software choice for the job is Apple’s iMovie. I’ve tried many others but, even as a mostly PC guy, I still think iMovie offers the best finished result and it makes about the most compelling video presentation you can get. Anyway, on with today’s post.

My NEW Kelby Training Video Just Went “LIVE”

Hey gang, GREAT NEWS! And I’m stoked. I just received an email late yesterday that the first of my two brand new videos for Kelby Training has just gone “LIVE”. The title, “Photographing Couples”, walks you through my process for photographing engagement couples. I discuss clothing selection, lighting, composition, posing, and so much more.

Working with our two models made the shoot a breeze. Also the fact that they were married to each other didn’t hurt either as we photographed them very romantically together too. I think you’ll really enjoy the video. You can check it out right here.

Technique Tuesday: Fun At The Beach

I had lots of images and lots of techniques I pulled together for my beach shoot a while back in Cabo San Lucas a while back.

Today’s episode was interesting in how that shoot came together. We had just started getting some ideas for shooting. The sun was on it’s way down but there was not a cloud in the sky anywhere.

As I surveyed the surrounds, the rocks above looked promising for my shooting location. The sun was quite bright behind the rocks and gave me a “hotspot” in which I would place my subject. That was the start of things.

The cool thing about this tutorial is that you literary get to see how the shot comes together – step by step. First I find the location, then I have to wrestle with the light, then I need to get a flattering pose from my subject – all one step at a time.

The next part of the image making process involved utilizing the digital tools at my disposal – Lightroom and Photoshop. Just when I thought I was finished with the image I got another idea on how I might enhance it even more. Again, step by step, I walk you through the process until I obtain the finished image, a result that I’m proud and pleased to share.

To see all the steps come together, hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show in this week’s episode entitled, “Fun At The Beach.”

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. Lot’s on my plate today and Christmas right around the corner – I’ve got to run. I’ll see everybody tomorrow for another great post here at DigitalProTalk.com.

Monday, December 19, 2011

In keeping with the holiday spirit and our wintry weather I thought I would post one of my favorite candid wedding images of years past. This image was made nearly 12 years ago during my digital debut of shooting my very first digital wedding with my very first digital camera. I was a little nervous about shooting digital for the first time. You can bet that I had my medium format Hasselblad gear in the trunk of my car – just in case. The fact of the matter is that I didn't resort to film at all on that December 30, 2000 date.

I don't exactly recall in what mode I was shooting but I suspect I was in, dare shall I say it, “P” for “professional” mode ;~) I remember it being quite cold and blustery that day. I still love this image of the bridesmaids rushing up the front church steps trying to get inside where it was warm and cozy.

I love how the patches of snow throughout the scene accent the girls’ petticoats peeking out from under their dresses as they scurry up the steps. It's a fun, storytelling moment that easily represents the winter nuances of this particular wedding day.

We arrived home to a chilly Cincinnati, Ohio late Saturday evening. Sunday was pretty much an off day but today we're off and running with a pretty crazy schedule until the weekend. Most of the studio orders are delivered with the exception of one large wedding delivery for one of my favorite clients.

Most of my efforts this week will be spent spreading the word on our fantastic Photo Pro Expo 2012 which kicks off on Super Bowl weekend February 2 next year. You'll really want to check it out It is the photographic education bargain of the century. Our speaker line up includes some of the top names in our industry including Scott Kelby, Jerry Ghionis, Joel Grimes, Kirk Voclain, Sarah Petty, Skip Cohen, Lindsay Adler, and many more.

Every time I start talking about it I get really fired up so why not just check out the link right here for all the information. Remember, you want to use promo code PPE DPT 12 to receive the posted registration price.

Since time is short let's get right to today's post. I've got a couple cool things selected I think you will really enjoy. Here we go…

This is quite interesting link. Wedding photographer, Jaroslav Repta attached a video camera to his shooting rig and recorded his entire wedding shoot. At first glance I thought it was just kind of a fun video but within the first few minutes I was hooked and had to watch the whole thing. I found the entire presentation quite interesting and intriguing. I think it's worth a peek right here.

I'm a huge fan of nighttime photography and, even during our Cabo visit I captured many interesting photographs of the nighttime street scenes in the city. This link is a great post on how to get the best result for your next nighttime city photo walk. Hey, stay tuned, I may just post a nighttime photo walk here in Cincinnati in the next few months.

You know, I think it's a good creative exercise to view images outside our normal field of expertise. I'm a wedding/portrait photographer but I still enjoy beautiful examples of other kinds of imagery. Every week I'm on the lookout for images just to get my creative juices flowing a bit more. I think you'll find this post of 70 touching examples of emotive portraits quite interesting.

This is one of those links that gives you a nice insight into another great photographer’s thought processes. These 1 minute master classes do just that. I like hearing how Steve thinks, how he frames up his images and how he works to that finished result. Always a good lesson when one learns from the master.

Smoke Photography Tips [link] Even though I’m a portrait/wedding photographer there are times when I just like to experiment and play with different kinds of imagery. I've been a fan of smoke photography for a number of years and this post goes into about the best detail I've ever seen on the subject. If you want to have a little fun on the side, I recommend this post to you.

Okay gang, this is about the most fun Photoshop action that I've seen in a long time. Remember when you were a kid and sat around the week before Christmas making Christmas ornaments? Now you can do something really cool.

This PS action allows you to cut your Christmas decoration bills substantially too. Just load photos of your kids in the Photoshop Action, press PLAY and watch the fun begin. Now you can give grandma a brand-new set of Christmas ornaments that she can enjoy for years to come at practically no cost to you;~) All kidding aside, this is a pretty cool little Photoshop Action for kids and adults alike.

And speaking of Christmas, how about these beautiful Christmas vector collections. Now you can make your very own gift tags and holiday cards. Just look how DigitalProTalk is saving you so much money for Christmas this year;~)

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm running late as usual but I still hope you enjoy the links for today's Quick Hit Monday. This week's postings will be sporadic with all the crazy things going on. But hang in there, I’m doing my best during the holiday rush. Just keep smiling.

Friday, December 16, 2011

I made this image last week during our catamaran sunset cruise. We've taken this cruise once before last year and it is quite a photographic adventure.

This image was made right before the sun settled below the horizon. The timing was perfect with beautiful orange textures in the sky and the alignment of the ships on the horizon which gave me this great sunset composition.

OK, I did tweak the colors a bit in Lightroom 3, removed one small boat that just didn't look right, and slightly extended the sea and sky on the left. The minor adjustments, I think, really added to the overall impression of the image.

Since we've been talking image competition all week, I thought I would finish the image with two color key-line strokes added around the image to accentuate the predominant colors in the scene and give the image the look of a gallery presentation. Be sure to double click the image to see the larger version. I love it!

Today is our last day in this very beautiful part of the world, albeit a bit chilly today. We head back to home sweet home tomorrow about mid-morning arriving after a short layover in Dallas, finally to touch down at the Greater Cincinnati Northern KY airport about 6:00 p.m. tomorrow evening.

It's been a great trip – we’ve enjoyed the colors, sounds, tastes, unusual customs (like the Day of The Dead), blue skies, ocean breezes, and fabulous sunrises and sunsets, shared with great friends. But it will still be nice to get back home and prepare for the holidays - my favorite time of the year. Hope you're looking forward to it too ;~)

Costco Update: The Printing Adventures Continue

OK gang, here is the latest from our Costco photo adventures. Sarah and I finessed the portraits we captured last Saturday and had them looking great - now could we get Costco to do the same?

Then it hit me, I had the solution. Costco needed to see exactly what we wanted but I had no test print available to show them. I opted for the second best thing. I loaded the test print and several of our portraits onto the iPad. They looked WONDERFUL! Now I had exactly what I needed to show the Costco photo department - a target print and a sampling of the portraits. Off to Costco we headed.

Once we arrived we were lucky to connect with Rafael, one of the nicest guys in Mexico and luckily he spoke pretty good English too. That’s Kent and I with the iPad and the old prints from the other day.

We showed him the prints from our previous visit then pulled up the same images on the iPad along with the test print. He saw what were talking about immediately.

I asked him to run our 8x10 test target without corrections to see what we would get. Ten minutes later we hit the jackpot - the test print looked perfect! I turned the rest of the images over to Rafael - 15 8x10's; 12 5x7's; and 105 4x6's. As the prints were coming off the Noritsu printer, Rafael placed them on the counter for our approval - they all looked great!

About 20 minutes later we had the completed order in hand and were headed to the check-out. 224 pesos later, or about $17 US, we were on our way. OK, I bet you're really curious about what we paid for the images, right? Prepare to be amazed!

I've shown the cost conversion below:

8x10's - $9.00 MX or $ .67 US

5x7's - $1.50 MX or $ .11 US

4x6's - $ .90 MX or $ .07 US

I know, I didn't believe it either - pretty darn inexpensive and still printed on Fuji's Crystal Archive paper - I don't know how they do it.

Today we'll spend a little time getting all the 8x10's and 5x7's framed and deliver the entire "order" to the families in time for the holidays.

DAZNOTE: Getting the test prints on the iPad worked like a charm. You don't have test prints to carry around with you all the time, just upload them to your iPad ;~)

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Hey gang, that wraps up our Cabo adventures. We're going to savor one more day in this wonderful land of paradise. Hopefully LaDawn and I and all my pixels will make it back home safe and sound so I’ll see everyone again back in a slightly cooler Cincy bright and early Monday morning. Have a great weekend and I'll see you then!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

This is another image from my little neighborhood photo walk the other day. I was still shooting with the Sigma 85mm F1.4 lens at f1.4 to see what I could get. I found it to be quite the challenge to get the result I wanted. More importantly, I had to realize that I was out of my comfort zone with this assignment and WAS missing pretty many shots.

But that's the challenge with self assignments isn't it. The experience just made me want to try harder to get the shot I wanted. Practice makes perfect, as they say. I think it behooves each of us to PRACTICE our craft if, indeed we want to prove our ART.

Anyway, back to this image. I just love the light to high key, mostly white tonalities, of the scene with just the one part of the gate in sharp focus. Look how everything else around it goes well out of focus leaving this one "soldier" all alone in the mist.

Notice too the rhythm of the composition, the easy curve of the lines running through the image, even with most of the lines out of focus. But still being out of focus, it adds a nice harmony to the overall composition.

Yes, I tweaked the tonalities just a bit in Lightroom 3 and even considered converting the image to B&W, but it was mostly white anyway, I decided to keep the color rendition.

I can't believe our travels to San Jose Del Cabo wrap up in just two more days :~( It's been a great trip but, like they say, there's no place like home. We sort of been removed from the holiday rush while in Mexico, and I can't believe we have only 7 days till Christmas after we touchdown on Saturday evening.

And then, YIKES, it's right back into the swing of things. "No "problemo", it will still be fun to jump right into the season's festivities, listen to the holiday music, and connect with families.

And speaking of the holiday rush, I've got a quick tip for you today that may just ease the craziness of your studio's holiday deliver schedule. Here we go.

Ramp Up Your Customer Service With Expedited Delivery

Any photography studio owner knows that this is simply the busiest time of the year. Clients want everything in time for the holidays. And, you can't blame them, you would too, right? The problem also arises that not only do you have a huge volume of orders to complete, you also have to get them delivered to your clients!

Let The Insanity Begin!

I know what you're thinking, "What's the big deal? Just set an appointment for the clients to come in and pick up their orders." You know, that might work for a very small studio without much to deliver. But I can remember when we had stacks of albums, extra photographs, framed portraits, etc. still to deliver during that week before Christmas.

The on time delivery issues were further exacerbated by the fact that our clients were super busy too and could not find a time in their schedules that synced with our studio schedule. Nor did we want to work 24/7 to get everything delivered on our client's schedule. We had families too - we wanted to enjoy the holidays as well. I still remember those awful early years when the client came first, yes, even before families DURING CHRISTMAS!!!

Hell No! I’m Not Taking It Anymore! (just like the line in the movie, Network)

I was not in a good place back then in the early days of my business and was determined to put a stop to the insanity. The first change we made was to establish a Christmas cut off date that allowed us to guarantee for us, at least, that we would be able to deliver everything at least one week before Christmas. This may sound crazy, but it brought sanity back into my life and put my family first where they should be, especially during the holiday season.

OK, that solved a BIG part of the problem, but I was still faced with getting the large physical volume of orders delivered to our clients during the time before Christmas. The solution was right before my eyes - the clients didn't need to come to my studio to pick up their orders, we just needed to get the order in their hands in time for Christmas.

DAZNOTE: I have to admit, part of my problem was the fact that I wanted to personally deliver every order. I still do, BTW. But, with the Christmas rush, I had to make a few exceptions.

Here’s Comes The Sun – and Our Solution

Here is what we started to do. Back in the earlier days of my business, I set up an account with a local delivery service. The cost to deliver a package across town sighing an eight hour time frame was about $20 as I recall. Granted, I could have shipped it UPS and save quite a bit of money. But, I just didn't want the client's expensive wedding albums bouncing around the UPS delivery system and arrive damaged to the client.

Using the local delivery service solved any potential problems of items arriving damaged because everything was "hand-delivered" from our door to our client's door. This personal service touch also made us appear very customer service oriented to all our clients receiving the personally delivered orders. Heck, it was great customer service!

The bottom line was this. Our delivery costs increased slightly during that short stretch before the holidays, but our clients certainly appreciated the personal touch and we got our lives back - a very nice trade!

DAZNOTE: We eventually replaced the delivery service with some of my team members’ high school and home-from-college sons and daughters, filling in as our delivery drivers. They were happy to get the extra cash and we were able to save a few more bucks on the expenses.

You know, I am so glad I learned to take control of my business early on and not have it "beat me to death" during the holidays. We found the solutions and have finessed them over the years and have made them work very effectively every year since. I sure hope a few of my insights can help you save the holiday season for you and your families. May your holidays be fun, exciting, and joyous as we get closer to Christmas.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We're heading to Costco to get all of our Help-Portrait images printed and picking up a few additional frames. We want the images to look great when we deliver them tomorrow. Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you for a short post tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

This image was captured during another down-the-street photo walk yesterday. I had given myself an assignment to shoot with Sigma’s 85mm F1.4 lens exposing the images at only F1.4.

As I passed by one of the homes I liked the streaking bright light across the rough textured wall on the other side of the fence. I framed up the shot and pressed off a few frames. The very wide aperture threw the bars of the fence well out of focus.

Next it was into Lightroom 3 where I tweaked the colors and tonalities. Originally the fence was quite a bit lighter, but with the “Black Level” slider, I was able to darken it’s tones considerably. The darken result was to give the image the look, in my eyes, of a prisoner’s view of haunting prison bars.

The bright streaks of light beckon the prisoner to hope and freedom, but the dark bars forbid him from making that journey.

I spent a good bit of the morning readying our Help-Portrait images. Sarah is taking over and will complete the final retouching on them. The plan is to get them down to Costco tomorrow for printing.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on how to get the best color from Costco’s printing services. I thought the best was the online upload of the images and even gave it a try. It really works quite well. The only problem – I can’t pick them up at our Cabo Costco it only works in the states. Back to Plan B – try to QC the printing at the store, language barrier and all. I’ll keep you posted. There’s bound t0 be a lesson in here somewhere ;~)

That’s the latest update from this part of the world so let’s get on with todays post. Hope you enjoy it.

Doing Print Competition Right!

OK, we just wrapped our Hot Shots Image Competition and I hope you have had an opportunity to see the results. Now you’re fired up and want to enter and make a great showing next time around, maybe even make it into the Top 10! What are a few key things you can do to enhance your chances of scoring well and maybe even winning?

I thought yesterday was a great post first, because it was jammed packed with great images and secondly, because if you hit the PPA links near the end of the post, you got some great insight as to what the judges are looking for in an image.

Today, I want to ramp it up another notch and point out one of the easiest things you can do to your images that almost guarantee a point or two increase in your score. And that, is the image presentation.

Key Lining Is A Nice Touch

In our image competition we saw some great images but what was it that set the winners apart from so many other entries? It was how they were presented to the judges. Let me show you what I’m talking about. Let’s look at the first image below.

I remember when this image came up on my screen – I loved it! It was beautifully photographed and had quite a dramatic feel to it. What it was unfortunately lacking was a better presentation.

Hey, I know this “image competition thing” is new to many of you which is why I’m taking the time to share with you some tried and true secrets of the top competitors.

Now let’s look at the next image.

Again, we have a striking image. I have to admit, I like the blurred water in the first image better. So what is it about this image that adds a bit of a coolness factor to its presentation? It’s the key lining around the image, isn’t it? The very small line around the image makes it seem to pop right off of the page.

Now what happens if we do the same thing to the first image we looked at. Check it out below.

The thin little key line did a nice job of really showcasing the maker’s image. I also punched up the flowing water’s highlights by using the dodge tool in “highlight” mode. It made a BIG difference, didn’t it?

Slim Line Cropped Images

Check out the next image below. Kind of different isn’t it? What makes it so different – the super slim crop. It’s so different from the majority of the images submitted. And, it’s that difference that catches the judges eye.

To add an element of surprise by adjusting the print presentation is a favorite technique used by many master photographers over the years. This image did not score as high as I would have scored it, but that’s what image judging is all about – differences of opinion. During a regular competition like we have scheduled for PhotoPro Expo 2102 in February, the five person judging panel will really get “lively” as they challenge, discuss, and re-score the images. It’s exciting to watch.

Match The Mounting To The Background

Let’s take a look at the next image. I think it’s gorgeous! It’s simple, elegant, and beautifully presented.

It’s the “white on white” matting of this image that makes it so striking for me. Do you see what the maker has done? Instead of just presenting the image on just any color background, white was used to compliment the solid white background of the tulips. Key lining finished the job for a great image presentation.

Key The Key Line

Let’s take a look at one more image. Again, it’s just a simple, yet beautiful bridal portrait. But what makes it stand out as a great image presentation?

Click on the image to make it larger and notice how the maker used two key lines in this case, each key line picking up the subtle tonalities of the yellow bridal bouquet. The maker of the tulip image above did the same thing. Both image just seem to jump off the page.

So there you have it, a few ideas, tips, tricks, and techniques of the trade that you can use the next time you enter a image competition.

Good luck!

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We have just a few more days remaining in Mexico and we’re planning to enjoy every one of them. The sunshine is calling and I don’t want to be late so I’ll catch you later. Have a great one!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Everyday since we arrived in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico almost two weeks ago, I have photographed the sunrise from our second floor balcony. The morning sun presents itself from about between 6:00 – 6:30 a.m. Every morning is different. Some morning are more spectacular than others, but all are a beautiful beginning on a joyous day in this part of the world.

This is today’s morning sunrise. I spent about 30 minutes shooting several variations of the landscape as the sun slowing welcomed itself into the day. I think this image is my favorite. I’m a big fan of the rich, vibrant colors many of these sunrises exhibit. This one was no exception.

As I’m framing up the photograph, I strive to pick up other elements like the palm frawns in the scene that I think contribute to the overall composition.

If your sunrise was not so nice, let me offer our sunrise as a suitable replacement to the start of your day ;~)

We had a much larger turnout than expected all at the last minute, of course. So lots of folks were able to submit images before we could close off the registration. I think that’s a good thing though. The viewing audience got a chance to see a much larger body of work judged and evaluated.

Print Competition The Rest Of The Story

First of all, my sincere THANKS to the more than 10 volunteers who put in collectively over 50 hours of their time to pull off the technically complex and most exciting image competition ever!

We had people monitoring the event in Florida, Kentucky, and Cabo, Mexico. There were also a total of 10 devices - 4 computers for viewing, judging, and monitoring, 3 iPods for scoring, and 3 iPads for monitoring remotely – all were used to pull off the most technically complex print competition ever and to make it the success it was.

We had 45 photographers enter from 22 states around the country with one entry from Canada which made our competition an international event! Here are the top 10 images in order submitted for the event. Enjoy!

Here are a few of the comments from our “LIVE” studio audience:

“Its was great. I started competing this year and it was so much fun…" John V.

“I am learning SOOOO much. Thank you!” Cindy S.

“I enjoyed the presentations and the judges comments on the images. Thanks for all the hard work for this wonderful learning opportunity.” Chuck C.

“This is great! I think I'm going to look into the master photographer classes on PPA.” Mary D.

“This is the first time I've experienced anything like this. GOOD to hear/learn what the judges look for.” John D.

“…Thank you… Seeing the images and listening to the judges comments was invaluable and educational.” Jammie . G

“Judy and I really enjoyed the Webinar. We learned a great deal from reviewing the photos and then hearing the experts comments. We appreciated your hard work in support of photographers all over the globe.” Judy and Chuck H.

We have several viewers tuned in via our live webcast watching the entire competition “LIVE” as it happened. I was moderating the event and answering as many of the submitted questions as fast as I could.

What Makes A Great Image?

The Professional Photographers Of America have been conducting Print Competitions for many years. Judges go through rigorous training to learn how to distinguish a great image from one that is close to great. I was a print judge for many years and it is an exciting and extremely educational experience.

The judges are looking for 12 main aspects of an image and basing their score on that criteria. The Twelve elements listed below are in accordance to their importance:

You can read the long version right here. It goes into much great depth about each aspect of what the judges are looking for.

And The Winners Are…

We selected three winners from last Thursday’s competition. They are listed as follows:

Highest Collective Score for 6 Images: This award is the most difficult of all the awards a maker can receive. It demands extremely high quality and consistency across all 6 of the makers entries. Our winner this year is Jessica Edwards with a scoring total of 483, nearly an 81 average for all 6 of her images entered! Congrats! Jessica!

This award is always a crowd favorite. It goes to the maker of the image with the overall highest scoring image of the competition. Our winner for this competition goes to Eric Shalita for his image “Electric Arch” which scored a phenomenal 88 from the judges. This was also the judges favorite image too.

These are the top scoring images in each of the six categories. Each winner will receive a copy of my 2011 Success Collection.

Highest Scoring Artistic (Photoshop,etc.) Image: “Electric Arch”. Please see above. It was also the top scoring image in the competition.

Highest Scoring Landscape Image:

”Docked” by Jill Davidson scoring 85.

Highest Scoring Portrait Image:

“Old Boys Club” by Jonathon Burton, scoring 84

Highest Scoring Wedding Image:

“Rooftop Romance” by Rosemary Cundiff-Brown scoring 83

Highest Scoring Sports Image:

“Riding The Wave” by Peter Tucker scoring 82.

Highest Scoring Wildlife Image:

“Water Drops On Wings” by Amber Pulse scoring 81.

Congratulations to all our winners. Hope to see you at PhotoPro Expo 2012. We’re giving away $5,000 in prizes and awards next February!

Now For The Re-Broadcast Of The PhotoPro Network Image Competition and Review

Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the images and judges comments one more time! Enjoy everybody!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. I’ve been at the computer too long these last two days with these lengthy posts. We’re hitting the sunshine early. I’ll plan to see you sometime tomorrow for another great post from the sunny shores of Mexico.